


The Crow and The Queen

by BedeliaAnneRavenscroft



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Birds, Crows, F/M, Ice, Ice Queen, fairytale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BedeliaAnneRavenscroft/pseuds/BedeliaAnneRavenscroft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over time the ice queen grew fond of the crow, to the point where she felt comfortable to smooth its black feathers should they be ruffled by the breeze from tiny birds' wings; occasionally, she even cleaned the birds' crimson blood from its beak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Crow and The Queen

To tell the nightmare as a fairytale: once upon a time there lived a woman made of ice, whom would sit alone in her palace and listen to the cawing of the birds.

The ice woman, a solitary queen to her miniscule fiefdom, was never fond of the birds. She heard their caws for help and responded as she should, but to her they were weak and petty. Insignificant. Despite her desire to crush the weakness from them, to silence their trivial and incessant cries, she helped them nonetheless. She lifted them from the ground and fixed their broken wings as best she could, though her mind screamed to leave them on the floor and walk atop them, to crush their broken bodies and carry on.

One day a crow flew to her; it entered her palace to inspect the walls and barricades she built over the years. It seemed to appreciate what it found. The ice queen was fascinated: for once the caws she listened to held her true interest, for the crow did not seek her help. Unlike the other birds, the crow was strong and the ice queen found herself gladdened to have found, within the crow, the peaceful silence she so craved.

Often the crow returned to her. Where the birds sought help, the crow asked for guidance – something she was willing to give so she could observe the crow. Over time the ice queen grew fond of the crow, to the point where she felt comfortable to smooth its black feathers should they be ruffled by the breeze from tiny birds' wings; occasionally, she even cleaned the birds' crimson blood from its beak.

The ice queen knew to practice caution around the crow's beak, for the creature could turn at any moment should she seem too similar to the birds it loved to crush.

Sometimes the ice queen wondered if the crow would fly away; some days she longed it to, others she wished to encage the beast and claim it as her own, so she may look into its dark eyes and forever try to understand the creature's twisted, yet iridescent mind.

Sometimes she wondered if she could call the crow hers, though to do this would be to cage it. She rejected ideas of caging the crow, knowing she would hate to take away the opalescence of its mind, to leech away its colours until it became as dull and monochrome as the birds she detested. She knew she was capable of crushing this bird, and some part of her wished to, if only to prove her lasting awareness of herself.

Nevertheless, she rejected the thought. There were doubts in her mind, doubts she would ever find a similar creature again. So she allowed her foot to hover atop the crow: she let it see her for who she was, and let it know it had met an equal.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure about this one - it was inspired by tumblr comments on a post, where people pointed out the hostility toward Bedelia after her speech about metaphorical birds.


End file.
